Tag Archive for: Denver Gazette

mountain peak with snow
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The Snowpack Principle

Every spring, Coloradans watch snowpack reports with unusual devotion. We know the water filling our rivers in July often arrives as snow in January. The mountains collect it, then release it gradually when the valleys below need it most. Generosity also works like this.
for sale sign in front of a home

Thinking About a New Home? Move Wisely.

Most people think of a move as one transaction. But in reality, it’s usually two: selling the home you have and buying the one you want. The hard part is that those two events rarely line up as neatly as you might like.
blank check
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The Paycheck That Doesn’t Require You to Go to Work

For most of our adult lives, our financial arrangement is simple. We go to work, and somebody pays us. Every few weeks, a paycheck appears. Then one day, if we are fortunate and have planned well, something remarkable happens. We retire. But the bills? They don’t get the memo.
rows of crops on a farm

Your Portfolio Has Two Numbers — Are You Watching the Right One?

Imagine you own a productive farm. You’ve owned it for years, cared for the land, invested in equipment and watched its productivity rise. Every year, your farm yields a crop. The harvest varies each year, but over time, the crop and its income have grown. Now imagine that every morning, a stranger pulls into your driveway and offers to buy your farm.
closeup of a monopoly board
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Do More Than Pass Go

Imagine playing Monopoly but never buying a property. Instead, you simply advance your token, collect $200 when you pass GO, pay rent and try to evade jail. It sounds ridiculous, yet that is how many people approach their financial lives. I think a useful investing lesson is hidden inside that cardboard box.
tree standing alone in a field

Building an Income That Gives You a Raise Every Year

One of the great ironies of personal finance is that most people spend their working lives pursuing raises, promotions and bonuses, yet devote far less thought to creating an income stream that can continue growing after they retire.
welcoming home in the mountains

The Assets That Pay You — and the Ones You Pay For

I believe in the value of home ownership and regularly encourage it. But beyond a primary home, the financial picture muddies. Put simply: Some assets help fund your life. Others require that your life funds them.
man silhouetted climbing a mountain

The Business Beneath the Balance

There is an old saying on Wall Street that stocks climb a wall of worry. It persists for one simple reason: Investors constantly forget that markets do not require a peaceful world in order to advance. They require businesses capable of adapting, earning, innovating and growing … despite the worries.
an elderly couple examines a credit card

The Retirement Question We Ask Too Late

Most people spend decades learning how to build wealth, only to discover in retirement that they must learn an entirely different skill: how to live from it.
us flag
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A Market of Possibilities for 250 Years

We often measure history by wars, presidents, elections and crises. While those events are relevant and notable, another story runs parallel: that of free people asking a simple question on repeat. What is possible?
man stares up at advertising billboards

What Do You Own, and Why?

The greatest enemy of successful investing is not always inflation, recessions, elections, interest rates or even market declines. Often, it’s distraction: the shiny object promising an easier path; the belief in “something better” than patiently following a well-designed plan.
a woman leans on someones shoulder

There Is Still No Algorithm for Trust

AI raises an important question, especially for any business that offers advice: What can technology do, and what can it never truly replace? I believe technology can provide information, but a good advisor provides understanding.
man writing on paper
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Do You Want Advice, Agreement or Assurance?

I’ve held many versions of this same conversation over the years. Sometimes they genuinely seek perspective. Other times they want reassurance that everything will be all right. Sometimes they’ve already decided what they want to do and hope an advisor will simply reinforce that choice. Those are three very different conversations.
newspaper headline

While the World Worries, Progress Continues

Fear is understandable. People are not foolish for worrying about war, rising prices, political division or an unexpected event interrupting the retirement plan they spent decades building. Yet my nearly five decades in this business have taught me a critical lesson: Even understandable fears can drive damaging financial decisions.
man standing in front of a busy chalkboard

When Complexity Looks Like Wisdom

Complexity often reassures many investors. Surely a system involving so many formulas, ratings, models and highly compensated experts must mean diminished the risk, right? The truth is often the opposite: Rather than remove risk, complexity simply disguises it.